First Impressions after the Senior Bowl

February 2, 2016

Carson Wentz might just be the real deal

After leading North Dakota St. to two FCS championships during his time with the Bison, Carson Wentz entered Mobile relatively unknown, but throughout the week, the chatter grew louder and louder about the 6’5” signal caller leading up to kickoff Saturday afternoon. Wentz started at QB for the North squad, and had a solid performance throwing for 50 yards after completing six of his ten passes including this beauty after looking off the linebacker.

Because of his strong outing, Wentz might have just cemented his status as not only a first round pick, but maybe even a top 2 pick. Rumors of Wentz to Cleveland with their number two overall pick have already started. Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up on the long list of quarterbacking failures in Cleveland that can now add Johnny (Billy?) Manziel.

Will teams take a risk on Noah Spence in the first round?

I know what you’re thinking: this story is heard way too often in college football and in the NFL. A talented player. A failed drug test. An apology. A million dollar paycheck. Another failed drug test. We’ve all seen it time and time again with players like (sorry Browns fans) Josh Gordon. But, Noah Spence might be different. After an impressive sophomore campaign at Ohio State where he was named to the first-team All-Big Ten, Spence failed two drug tests en route to being suspended for the entire 2014 season and being subsequently banned from the Big Ten. He then underwent treatment for his addiction to the drug, ecstasy. Passing up the draft last year, the pass rusher transferred to Eastern Kentucky in order to prove himself. Spence became an AP FCS All-American after being a force on defense for the Colonels collecting 22.5 tackles for a loss as well as 13.5 sacks. According to Chase Goodbread of NFL.com, Spence received some high praise from former scout, Daniel Jeremiah.

.@MoveTheSticks on the #SeniorBowl defensive ends: "There's a huge gap. It's Noah Spence, and then everyone else."

— Chase Goodbread (@ChaseGoodbread) January 30, 2016

Other players who opened some eyes yesterday were Dak Prescott, who won the Most Outstanding Player at the end of the game, TCU running back Aaron Green, and Brandon Allen of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Aaron Green had 32 yards on three carries including this 23 yd TD run.

Brandon Allen finished 7 of 10 for 106 yds and was quite fond of tight end Glenn Gronkowski, younger brother of Rob. Although Allen impressed, Mike Mayock brought up his small, 8.5 inch hands and said that scouts would definitely be concerned about them.